COLUMBIA  LIBRARIES  OFFSITE 

HEALTH  SCIENCES  STANDARD 


HX64095215 
R1 54.G823  W27     In  memory  of  Dr.  Joh 


RECAP 


Memory  of  Dr.  John  Green 


REMARKS  AND  ADDRESSES  BY 

FREDERIC  A.  HALL,  LL.D.y  WASHINGTON 
E, '  FISCHEL,  M.D.,  E.  A.  ENGLER,  LL.D., 
A.  E.  EWING,  M.D.,  and  WM.TRELEASE.LL.D. 
PRESENTED  at  a  MEETING  HELD  BY  WASH- 
INGTON UNIVERSITY    MEDICAL    SCHOOL. 


Columbia  ®lntoer$jtp 

mttjeCttpofitogork 

College  of  43[jpetcians  anb  burgeons 
iUbrarp 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Open  Knowledge  Commons 


http://www.archive.org/details/inmemoryofdrjohnOOslsn 


4^^y^Z^^^^-    - 


. 


In  Memory  of  Dr.  John  Green. 


A  meeting  in  memory  of  Dr.  John  Green  was  held  by  the 
Washington  University  Medical  School  in  Graham  Memorial 
Chapel  at  Washington  University  on  the  birthday  of  Dr.  Green, 
Thursday,  April  2,  1914.  Acting-chancellor  Hall  presided,  and 
addresses  were  made  by  Dr.  Washington  E.  Fischel,  Mr.  E.  A. 
Engler,  Dr.  A.  E.  Ewing  and  Mr.  William  Trelease,  in  commem- 
oration of  the  life  and  work  of  Dr.  Green  as  a  physician,  a 
scholar  and  a  teacher. 

The  presiding  officer,  Frederic  A.  Hall,  Acting  Chancellor  of 
Washington  University,  opened  the  exercises  of  the  evening 
with  the  following  remarks  : 

We  are  met  here  to  honor  the  memory  of  a  distinguished  citi- 
zen, a  man  characterized  by  inventive  genius,  marvelous  skill, 
and  great  erudition.  The  world  recognized  its  obligations  to  him 
in  universal  adoption  of  some  methods  which  he  originated.  Peo- 
ple from  afar  sought  the  benefit  of  his  dexterity,  and  his  broad 
learning  won  the  respect  of  all  those  who  knew  him.  It  was 
eminently  fitting  that  his  colleagues  should  arrange  a  service  in 
his  honor,  to  express  their  appreciation  of  his  worth  and  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held.  It  was  eminently  fitting  that  the 
exercises  should  be  under  the  auspices  of  the  University  which 
he  served  efficiently  for  so  many  years,  and  it  was  eminently 
fitting  that  these  exercises  should  be  held  in  this  building,  an 
edifice  dedicated  to  the  exaltation  of  noble  deeds. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Green  was  begun  about  twenty 
years  ago,  when  I  met  him  at  a  reception  given  at  the  residence 
of  Chancellor  Chaplin.  It  was  my  pleasure  that  evening  to  con- 
verse with  Dr.  Green  for  an  hour  or  so,  and  I  there  began  to 
have  that  high  esteem,  almost  reverence,  for  his  great  learning 
in  many  things  outside  of  his  own  profession.    My  vocation  was 

1 


2  Dr.  John  Green. 

the  study  of  Greek  and  my  particular  vocation  the  study  of 
Greek  tragedy,  and  yet  I  found  him  able  to  make  suggestions 
with  reference  to  Greek  tragedy  which  had  never  occurred  to 
me.  He  had  as  an  avocation  delved  into  Greek  tragedy,  and 
from  his  avocation  he  was  able  to  bring  help  to  me  in  my  voca- 
tion. In  later  years  I  found  his  knowledge  of  classical  archae- 
ology unusual  for  its  breadth  and  depth, — and  yet  these  were 
only  two  lines  of  the  many  which  he  touched  outside  of  his  own 
field. 

It  is  not  my  province,  however,  to  speak  at  length  with  refer- 
ence to  him  in  whose  honor  we  meet.  Others  have  been  selected 
who  will  speak  as  representing  both  colleagues  on  the  medical 
faculty  and  friends  of  intimate  acquaintance  and  long  standing. 
Dr.  Fischel  and  Dr.  Ewing  as  representing  the  medical  profes- 
sion, and  Dr.  Engler  and  Dr.  Trelease  as  representing  close 
friends,  will  speak,  each  as  he  may  wish,  and  it  is  quite  possible 
that  the  four  will  repeat  each  other,  but  in  so  doing  they  will 
only  emphasize  the  striking  characteristics  of  him  of  whom  they 
speak.  It  would  ill  become  me  to  introduce  the  speakers  of  the 
evening;  they  are  as  well  known  to  the  audience  as  is  the  one 
who  would  introduce  them,  and  it  would  be  presumptuous  on  my 
part  to  endeavor  to  anticipate  what  each  may  say. 

JOHN  GREEN. 

AN  ADDRESS  BY  WASHINGTON  E.  FISCHEL,   M.D. 

For  thirty-six  years  on  every  second  day  of  April  it  has  been 
my  pleasure  to  grasp  the  hand  of  Dr.  John  Green ;  and  for  all 
these  years  I  have  felt  it  a  great  privilege  to  know  that  I  could 
call  him  friend. 

To-day,  the  79th  anniversary  of  his  birth,  I  am  here  with  you 
to  pay  tribute  to  his  memory  and  to  recall  something  of  what  his 
life  has  meant  and  will  continue  to  mean  to  us.  Noted  as  he 
was  noteworthy ;  cast  in  a  mould  so  peculiarly  his  own ;  regis- 
tering in  early  life  traits  that  have  made  him  a  unique  and  dis- 
tinguished personality ;  endowed  with  an  intellect  directed  to 
the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  thinkers  in  science,  literature  and 
art ;  not  only  an  exponent  of  scientific  progress,  but  an  originator 
of  scientific  truths, — his  passing  means  the  closing  of  the  ranks 
of  the  most  representative  men  of  the  Medical  Guild  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  during  the  past  five  decades. 

Dr.   Green   was  the  principal  representative  in  the   State  of 


Memorial.  3 

Missouri  of  the  large  family  of  descendants  of  that  Dr.  John 
Green  who  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Court 
in  1777.  He  was  eighth  in  descent  from  Thomas  Dudley,  second 
Governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony;  seventh  in  descent  of 
Jonathan  Sprague,  who  served  in  King  Phillip's  War,  and  fourth 
in  descent  from  Judge  Brigadier  General  Timothy  Ruggles,  Pres- 
ident of  the  Stamp  Congress.  He  was  a  nephew,  grandson  and 
great  grandson  of  Doctors  John  Green,  and  represented  the  fifth 
generation  of  physicians  bearing  the  name  of  Green,  completing 
with  the  other  members  of  his  family  an  unbroken  medical  ser- 
vice of  135  years  in  the  County  of  Worcester,  in  which  he  was 
born.  He  was  the  son  of  James  Green,  of  Worcester,  and  Eliza- 
beth (Swett)  Green,  of  Dedham,  Massachusetts.  In  making 
note  of  Dr.  Green's  forebears,  I  am  conscious  that  were  he  with 
us  he  would  disparage  any  reference  to  his  ancestry,  believing 
so  firmly  as  he  did,  that  not  birth  but  worth  and  work  accom- 
plished must  be  the  basis  of  man's  recognition.  To  me  it  seems 
particularly  fortunate  to  have  been  put  in  possession  of  the  facts 
as  related.  Coming  from  such  a  lineage  of  strong  men,  men  per- 
meated by  the  love  of  freedom  and  truth,  men  of  indomitable 
will  and  courage,  men  of  culture  and  honesty,  doubtless  also  of 
many  idiosyncracies,  we  can  the  better  understand  how  it  hap- 
pened that  our  John  Green  was  cast  in  the  mould  by  which  we 
knew  and  loved  him.  He  was  born  in  Worcester,  April  2nd, 
1835.  Educated  in  the  public  schools  there,  preparatory  to  enter- 
ing Harvard  College  in  1851,  he  was  graduated  A.B.  Harvard  in 
1855  ;  S.B.  Harvard  in  1856 ;  and  M.D.  Harvard  in  1866.  He  was 
admitted  a  Fellow  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  by  ex- 
amination in  1858,  and  spent  the  next  two  years  in  professional 
study  in  London,  Paris,  Berlin  and  Vienna.  In  1861  he  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Boston,  where  he  filled  the  position 
of  attending  physician  and  attending  surgeon  to  the  Boston  Dis- 
pensary and  of  Recording  Secretary  to  the  Suffolk  District  Medi- 
cal Society.  He  was  also  member  of  the  Boston  Society  of 
Natural  History  and  of  its  Council,  member  of  the  Boston  Medi- 
cal Association,  of  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Observation 
(later  merged  into  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improve- 
ment), and  (Delegate)  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
1864-1865.  During  the  Civil  War  he  served  as  Acting  Assistant 
Surgeon,  U.  S.  A.,  in  the  armies  of  the  Tennessee  after  the 
Battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  at  Frederic  City,  Maryland, 
after  the  Battle  of  Antietam.    In  1865  he  again  visited  Europe 


4  Dr.   John  Green. 

for  special  study,  principally  in  Ophthalmology,  in  London, 
Paris  and  Utrecht ;  and  in  1866  he  established  himself  in  practice 
in  St.  Louis. 

In  1868  Dr.  Green  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  Louise  Jones, 
eldest  daughter  of  George  Washington  and  Caroline  (Partridge) 
Jones,  of  Templeton,  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  who 
with  their  two  children,  John  and  Elizabeth  Green,  survives  him. 

In  his  later  life  he  was  a  member  and  founder,  in  1894,  of  the 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  Missouri ; 
and  also  a  member,  a  Founder  in  1894,  and  Deputy  Governor  of 
the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  in  the  State  of  Missouri. 

As  already  stated,  Dr.  Green  identified  himself  with  the  pro- 
fession in  St.  Louis  in  1866.  Although  he  had  completed  his 
course  of  studies  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School  in  1858,  he 
was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  requirements  for  graduation  and — 
honest  man  that  he  was — did  not  hesitate  to  declare  his  disap- 
proval, to  the  extent  of  refusing  to  accept  his  degree.  That  he 
had  worked  hard  and  with  credit  to  himself  was  at  once  demon- 
strated by  his  being  admitted  on  examination  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society.  This  gave  him  the  right  to  practice. 
Later  on  he  changed  his  attitude.  He  appreciated  the  move- 
ment in  the  Medical  School,  begun  in  1862  by  President  Hill, 
acting  President  Andrew  Preston  Peabody,  and  others,  which 
culminated  in  1870  in  the  great  reform  in  medical  education, 
effected  under  the  leadership  of  President  Eliot  and  the  Dean 
of  the  Medical  School,  Calvin  Ellis.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  came  to  place  a  higher  estimate  on  the  value  of  the  education 
given  by  the  Harvard  Medical  School ;  and  also  realized  the  ad- 
vantage to  him  of  the  degree  of  M.D.  from  an  institution  of  the 
standing  of  Harvard  University  when  he  was  about  to  go  to 
St.  Louis  to  live.  This  explains  why  eight  years  lapsed  between 
the  completion  of  his  course  of  instruction  in  Medicine  and 
the  acceptance  of  his  degree  of  M.D.  What  a  fine  illustration 
of  Dr.  Green's  uncompromising  honesty ! 

How  great  his  achievement  in  the  line  of  his  special  work  and 
the  immensity  of  his  working  faculties  in  other  fields  of  re- 
search, will  be  exploited  by  friends  who  can  better  do  him  justice 
than  I  can.  He  never  prided  himself  on  account  of  honors. 
Many  scientific  bodies  of  men  honored  themselves  in  honoring 
him  by  electing  him  to  be  of  their  number.  He  was  perhaps 
most  proud  of  the  honorary  LL.D.  bestowed  on  him  by  the 
Washington  University  and  by  the  Missouri  State  University. 


Memorial.  5 

To  be  honored  by  the  Directing  Boards  of  the  Universities  who 
best  knew  him  and  what  he  accomplished  was  in  his  judgment 
a  gift  to  be  prized.  Those  who  knew  the  professional  work  Dr. 
Green  accomplished  day  by  day,  except  for  a  well  earned  sum- 
mer's rest,  cannot  help  believing  that  he  must  have  enjoyed  the 
sense  of  daily  duty  faithfully  performed.  There  was  in  him 
never  a  thought  of  an  expanding  balance  in  the  bank.  His  heart 
was  in  his  work.  Duty  was  never  irksome  drudgery.  The  tax 
on  his  strength,  the  terrific  nerve  force  expended  in  his  pains- 
taking ministrations  to  scores  of  both  rich  and  poor,  proved  at 
times  so  great  an  ordeal  that  he  became  severely  blunt  in  his  ex- 
actions of  obedience  and  discipline.  It  was  not  with  the  poor 
that  he  displayed  his  nervous  tension  in  caustic  phrases.  He 
sympathized  too  much  with  their  misfortune  and  physical 
affliction  to  wound  them  by  unsympathetic  words.  Few  knew 
of  his  generosity  to  his  poor  patients.  He  not  only  housed  them, 
but  when  necessary  assisted  them  financially  and  provided  them 
with  special  nurses  when  the  exigencies  of  their  condition  made 
this  desirable. 

I  recall  with  a  feeling  of  great  affection  for  Dr.  Green  an  act 
of  sympathetic  consideration,  of  the  big  warm-heartedness  and 
helpfulness  of  the  man.  Some  years  ago  Dr.  Green  appeared 
at  my  house  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  was  a  bitter  cold 
night.  Apologizing  for  awakening  me,  he  asked  whether  I 
would  see  one  of  his  poor  patients  with  him,  for  whom  he  feared 
she  was  seriously  ill.  I  accompanied  him  to  a  boarding  house, 
where  in  a  very  small  rear  room,  overheated  and  practically 
impossible  of  ventilation,  I  found  an  old  woman  in  an  attack  of 
pneumonia.  There  was  no  one  on  hand  to  care  for  her.  This  is 
what  happened.  Dr.  Green  called  the  landlady,  and  finding  out 
that  a  large  front  room  was  unoccupied,  immediately  engaged  it, 
and  the  patient  was  forthwith  carried  into  comfortable  lodgings. 
He  promised  the  attendance  of  a  trained  nurse  later  in  the  morn-* 
ing,  and  in  the  meantime  assumed  the  responsibility  of  carrying 
out  my  instructions.  There  was  no  chance  for  me;  the  poor 
woman  had  in  the  first  instance  put  herself  in  his  care,  and  it 
was  his  privilege  as  well  as  his  duty  to  tide  her  over  that  night. 
No  reasoning  to  the  contrary  would  prevail.  It  was  truly  a 
benediction  to  witness  his  tenderness  and  kindness;  how  he 
gladly  deprived  himself  of  a  well-earned  sleep  to  minister  to 
this  suffering  fellow  creature  without  a  thought  of  self.  It  was 
ever  so.     He  was  always  pedantically  conscientious  in  his  pro- 


6  Dr.  John  Green. 

fessional  attention  to  those  who  came  to  him  without  means, 
without  prestige — just  to  him — knowing  that  they  would  receive 
at  least  as  skilled  and  kindly  attention  as  the  more  fortunate  of 
human  kind.  Discrimination  was  an  unknown  word  in  his  pro- 
fessional relation  with  his  clients.  Each  patient  was  made  to 
feel  that  he  or  she  was  the  especial  object  of  his  solicitude,  and 
that  every  possible  effort  would  be  made  to  secure  a  successful 
result.  It  matters  not  what  Dr.  Green's  outer  shell  of  manner, 
his  most  pronounced  critics  were  always  glad  to  concede  that 
his  personal  convictions  were  honest  convictions,  and  that  his 
expressions  of  them  were  as  fearless  as  they  were  honest. 

We  will  admit  that  Dr.  Green  was  severe,  yes,  a  trying  task- 
master with  those  who  thought  they  were  entitled  to  preferential 
consideration  and  forbearance.  He  was  often  wearied  by  un- 
necessary questions  and  irrelevant  statements  when  in  the  midst 
of  a  tremendously  busy  day's  work.  It  was  then  that  he  would 
burst  out  in  exclamations  that  would  strike  hard  and  cut  deep 
into  the  vanity  or  self-conscious  pride  of  the  offending,  or — 
better  said — the  offensive  questioner.  On  one  occasion  the  wife 
of  a  prominent  townsman  was  particularly  insistant  in  plying 
absurd  questions  and  volunteering  her  diagnosis  of  her  eye  con- 
dition. Dr.  Green  at  first  politely  requesting  her  not  to  dis- 
turb or  distract  him  by  needless  questioning  and  personal  ex- 
periences, finally  told  her — the  story  goes  still  politely — that  he 
much  preferred  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  her.  The 
woman  nothing  daunted  by  his  refusal  to  continue  his  profes- 
sional services,  proved  not  averse  to  go  on  with  her  dissertation 
on  her  case.  That  proved  too  strong  a  temptation  for  an  honest 
expression  of  his  conviction.  Looking  up  from  his  record  of  an- 
other case  to  which  he  had  in  the  meantime  directed  his  attention, 
he  burst  out  with  the  exclamation :  "Madam,  go  home  and  tell 
your  husband  he  has  a  fool  for  a  wife."  Who  but  Dr.  Green 
could  have  dispatched  such  a  message  to  a  husband  by  such  a 
messenger?  I  relate  this  story  as  illustrative  of  the  courage  of 
our  friend.  Perhaps  undiplomatic ;  but  the  applied  epithet  was 
correct,  as  on  a  subsequent  occasion  the  husband,  in  a  small 
gathering  of  friends,  admitted  the  fitness  of  Dr.  Green's  alle- 
gation. 

Dr.  Green  pre-eminently  represented  the  type  of  physician 
who  combined  great  learning  and  great  skill.  His  scholarship 
placed  him  in  the  foremost  class  of  men  of  scientific  attainments. 

A  teacher  in  medicine  since  1874;  first  a  lecturer,  and  from 


Memorial.  7 

1886  to  1899  a  professor,  and  from  then  until  1911  Special  Pro- 
fessor on  Ophthalmology;  always — except  for  a  period  of  two 
years — connected  with  what  is  now  the  Medical  Department  of 
the  Washington  University — his  courses  were  distinguished  by 
reason  of  his  crisp,  terse,  vigorous  English,  and  the  great  care 
and  skill  of  his  operative  procedures.  However,  his  teaching  was 
not  confined  to  students  in  Medicine.  Up  to  within  a  few  days 
of  his  final  illness,  he  kept  up  his  contributions  in  his  special 
line  of  work — contributions  which  will  make  him  a  historic 
figure  in  the  science  of  Ophthalmology.  The  scrupulous  accur- 
acy of  his  knowledge  made  his  office  the  Mecca  of  many  of  his 
more  intimate  colleagues  and  friends ;  and  the  influence  of  his 
own  vigorous  and  uncompromising  standards  has  left  its  impress 
on  the  character  of  the  work  of  the  younger  men  who  have  at 
different  times  been  intimately  associated  with  him. 

Those  who  have  enjoyed  service  in  the  wards  of  the  hospitals 
with  Dr.  Green,  will  always  recall  the  tenderness  and  kindness 
of  his  attention  to  his  patients.  A  sincere  and  grateful  glance 
meant  more  to  him  than  gold.  This  service  covered  a  period  of 
almost  forty  years,  and  comprised  his  work  as  Ophthalmic  Sur- 
geon and  Executive  Officer  to  the  St.  Louis  Eye  and  Ear  Infirm- 
ary (later  transferred  to  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  and  afterwards 
merged  into  the  O'Fallon  Dispensary  of  the  St.  Louis  Medical 
College,  now  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Washington  Uni- 
versity), and  as  Consulting  Ophthalmic  Surgeon  to  the  St.  Louis 
City  Hospital ;  and,  since  1894,  Consulting  Surgeon  to  the 
Barnard  (Free)  Skin  and  Cancer  Hospital. 

Surely  this  community  will  not  easily  forget  Dr.  Green's  self- 
imposed  labors  in  the  wards  of  their  hospitals.  A  grateful  re- 
membrance of  the  tribute  of  work  well  done  by  a  really  great 
physician  should  be  his.  These  services  were,  however,  only  a 
part  of  his  activity.  When  at  some  future  time  a  historian  comes 
to  write  of  the  advances  made  in  medical  teaching  in  the  St. 
Louis  Medical  College  (since  1891  the  Medical  Department  of 
Washington  University),  that  history  will  be  replete  with  the 
unwavering  steadfastness  to  rigorous  scientific  standards.  Dr. 
Green  proved  a  mountain  of  strength  in  the  furtherance  of  ideas 
which  after  twenty-five  years  of  waiting  have  found  fulfillment  in 
what  Washington  University  has  made  of  its  Medical  Depart- 
ment. It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  road  for  a  progressive 
betterment  of  facilities  for  teaching,  for  teachers  in  the  essential 
branches  of  medicine,  and  for  a  higher  standard  for  entrance 


8  Dr.  John  Green. 

requirements  was  made  possible  chiefly  by  the  courageous  atti- 
ture  taken  by  Dr.  John  T.  Hodgen,  Dr.  Gustav  Baumgarten, 
Dr.  Henry  H.  Mudd  and  Dr.  John  Green.  To  whatever  Dr. 
Green  directed  his  attention,  that  commanded  the  attention  of 
his  colleagues. 

But  justice  cannot  be  done  the  memory  of  Dr.  Green,  by 
reference  to  him  only  as  a  physician.  A  tribute  must  be  paid  to 
the  universality  of  his  learning ;  to  his  wise  counsel  and  his  warm 
heart ;  his  uncompromising  honesty,  and  his  consistent  courage. 
He  was  an  honored  and  wise  teacher;  a  pioneer  of  the  best 
Medical  Education ;  but  above  all  else  he  was  a  humane  man,  and 
a  great  good  friend. 

Would  that  I  could  express  what  I  feel  for  him  as  a  friend ; 
and  as  a  friend  to  a  friend.  Just  as  his  moral  courage  was  so 
intrinsically  a  part  of  himself  that  he  was  unconscious  of  it,  so 
was  he  also  unconscious  of  sacrifices  made  for  friends  whom 
he  trusted.    Those  who  knew  him  best  loved  him  most. 

JOHN  GREEN. 

AN  ADDRESS  BY  E.  A.   ENGLER,   LL.D. 

I  shall  content  myself,  and  I  hope  that  I  shall  not  disappoint 
you  in  so  doing,  by  relating  an  incident  in  the  career  of  Dr. 
Green  which  I  consider  impressive  and  significant  of  some  of 
the  dominant  traits  of  his  character — his  industry,  his  persever- 
ance, and  his  sane  inquisitiveness ;  and  I  relate  this  incident  only 
because  I  feel  sure  that  no  one  else  has  the  information  which 
would  enable  him  to  relate  it. 

When  Dr.  Green  was  approaching  the  age  of  sixty  years,  that 
is  to  say,  when  I  was  some  twenty  years  or  so  younger  than  I 
am  now,  he  called  on  me  one  afternoon  in  my  office,  as  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  doing  from  time  to  time  when  he  wished  to  get 
away  from  his  grind,  and  his  occupation  permitted,  and  said  to 
me  quite  familiarly,  "John"  (and  he  called  me  "John"  because 
that  was  not  my  name),  "I  have  come  to  make  a  confession  to 
you  and  to  ask  your  help."  I  replied,  "Well,  Dr.  Green,  both 
phases  of  that  statement  interest  me  very  much." 

"You  know,"  said  he,  "when  I  was  a  youngster  I  went  to 
Harvard  College  for  an  education.  Now  you  may  not  have  dis- 
covered it,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  teaching  in  Harvard  College 
and  especially  the  teaching  in  mathematics  has  improved  since  I 
was  a  college  student." 


Memorial.  9 

To  this  I  replied,  "I  hope,  Doctor,  that  what  you  say  is  true, 
because  I  myself  am  engaged,  and  have  been  all  my  life  engaged, 
in  attempting  to  improve  the  teaching  of  mathematics." 

He  continued,  "We  had  a  prescribed  course  of  study  in  those 
days,  and,  therefore,  I  had  to  study  mathematics.  I  suppose  I 
had  about  as  much  brains  as  the  rest  of  the  fellows ;  at  all  events, 
I  did  not  consider  that  I  was  a  fool;  but  they  had  a  habit  of 
turning  loose  on  us  the  young  fellows  who  had  just  graduated 
from  the  college  the  year  before  and  they  were  to  teach  us 
mathematics.  As  you  know,  I  have  the  kind  of  mind  that  is 
not  satisfied  by  a  statement  which  I  do  not  understand.  A  lesson 
would  be  assigned  to  us  from  a  text  book  and  we  would  be  ex- 
pected to  come  to  the  next  exercise  with  that  lesson  learned.  I 
used  to  try  for  a  while  to  learn  the  lessons,  but  had  difficulties. 
Then  I  would  come  to  the  instructor  for  help ;  I  was  invariably 
told  to  go  and  read  the  book.  I  had  tried  to  read  the  book  and 
could  not  understand  it,  and  it  was  clear  to  me  that  the  teacher 
did  not  understand  it  because  he  was  unable  to  help  me.  Finally 
I  concluded  there  was  no  use  in  my  attempting  to  learn  mathe- 
matics. Not  getting  any  good  out  of  it,  I  became  disgusted  with 
the  whole  field  of  mathematics  and  so  would  do  only  the  work 
required  so  as  to  pass.  The  way  I  did  this  was  not  to  work  at 
all  during  the  ordinary  term,  but  a  week  or  two  before  the  exam- 
ination I  hired  a  coach.  He  was  a  shrewd  man,  who  knew  what 
questions  would  be  asked  at  the  examination,  and  was  skillful 
enough  to  fill  me  up  with  the  correct  answers ;  and  in  that  way 
I  scraped  through.  So  I  got  through  Harvard  and  received  my 
bachelor's  degree.  I  thanked  my  stars  I  did  not  have  to  bother 
with  that  matter  any  more ;  that  was  behind  me. 

"You  know  I  profess  to  be  an  oculist,  and  have  been  doing 
something  in  that  line  for  a  number  of  years ;  and  now  I  am 
confronted  with  a  curious  situation.  I  find,  especially  of  late, 
that  not  only  are  nearly  all  the  advances  that  are  made  in  my 
science  expressed  in  the  publications  in  mathematical  formulas, 
which  I  cannot  read,  but  even  the  text  is  so  stated  that  it  means 
very  little  to  me,  and  I  really  don't  know  what  I  am  to  do. 
There  is  another  phase  of  it.  I  have  got  a  number  of  things  in 
my  head  which  I  would  like  to  express  to  other  people  and  I 
find  that  I  cannot  do  it  because  the  expression  of  them  requires 
a  knowledge  of  technical  mathematical  language." 

I  listened  with  great  interest  to  this  story  and  I  said,  "Well, 
Doctor,  what  do  you  want  me  to  do?" 


10  Dr.  John  Green. 

He  said,  "I  want  you  to  tell  me  how  I  can  learn  mathematics." 

I  replied,  "Doctor  Green,  I  can  tell  you  very  simply  how  you 
can  learn  mathematics." 

I  told  him  that  at  the  University  of  Berlin,  while  I  was  there, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  mathematicians  in  the  world  be- 
gan a  series  of  lectures  by  this  statement  (in  German,  of  course; 
I  will  translate  it),  "Mathematics  is  the  science  of  things  that 
are  self-evident." 

So  I  said,  "That  being  the  correct  definition,  and  I  thoroughly 
agree  with  it,  you  can  learn  mathematics  very  easily ;  but  I  know 
no  high  road  to  that  accomplishment.  The  only  way  is  to  begin 
at  the  bottom,  if  necessary,  go  through  the  drudgery  and  you  will 
learn  it  in  spite  of  yourself." 

"Well,"  he  said,  "that  is  what  I  want  to  do ;  but  I  want  you  to 
tell  me  how  to  do  it." 

"Very  well,"  I  replied ;  "if  you  are  in  earnest  I  am  ready  to 
help  you." 

I  went  to  a  book  case  and  got  out  a  rather  comprehensive  treat- 
ise on  Algebra  written  by  an  Englishman,  far  too  heavy  for  the 
ordinary  student. 

I  said,  "Here  is  a  book.    Read  it." 

He  said,  "I  will  put  on  this  all  the  time  I  can  spare.  I  have 
evenings  and  Sundays." 

I  said,  "Read  this  book.  I  think  you  will  not  read  more  than 
a  page  and  a  half  before  you  find  something  that  will  bother 
you.  Make  a  note  of  the  difficulty.  Proceed  in  this  manner  till 
you  feel  that  you  have  got  as  far  as  you  can  go  without  help, 
and  then  come  to  me." 

He  started  in.  I  would  see  him  some  weeks  once,  some  twice, 
and  each  time  he  would  have  a  lot  of  questions  to  ask  me.  I 
helped  him  over  the  difficulties.  He  went  at  it  with  an  avidity 
and  earnestness  that  I  have  never  seen  equalled  by  any  student 
that  has  come  under  my  instruction. 

After  having  gone  through  the  subject  of  Algebra  he  did  a 
similar  thing  with  Trigonometry,  Analytic  Geometry,  and  the 
Calculus,  and  he  got  such  a  hold  on  these  subjects  that  he  could 
not  only  read  intelligently  the  writings  in  his  own  line  by  others, 
but  began  writing  himself  and  introduced  mathematical  formulas 
and  technical  mathematical  language  to  such  a  degree  that  it 
attracted  attention  of  oculists  all  over  the  world. 

By  that  work,  which  he  continued  directly  with  me  for  four  or 
five  years,  and  which  he  kept  up  on  his  own  account  till  the  time 


Memorial.  11 

of  his  death,  he  got  into  the  habit  of  looking  at  things  from  the 
mathematician's  point  of  view,  so  that  he  used,  in  talking  with 
me  at  least,  mathematical  phrases  and  terms  which  expressed 
his  ideas  so  accurately  that  it  would  be  scarcely  possible  to  im- 
prove on  his  diction. 

This  incident  has  always  seemed  to  me  a  most  remarkable 
thing,  and  it  has  impressed  me  particularly  because  of  Doctor 
Green's  age  when  he  began  this  study,  and  his  persistence  in 
carrying  it  forward  to  a  useful  end.  I  shall  make  no  further 
comment  upon  it. 

JOHN  GREEN. 

AN  ADDRESS  BY  A.  E.   EWING,  M.D. 

In  order  to  correctly  understand  and  fully  appreciate  the  life 
and  the  work  of  Dr.  Green,  it  is  necessary  to  return  to  the  time  of 
his  early  studies  in  ophthalmology,  his  ophthalmic  surroundings, 
the  men  of  great  mental  caliber  with  whom  he  was  associated 
in  Europe  and  in  America,  and  the  incentives  that,  combined  with 
his  own  interest  in  science,  actuated  him  to  accomplish  the 
various  things  for  which  ophthalmology  must  give  him  credit. 

After  leaving  Harvard,  equipped  with  the  education  necessary 
to  the  attainment  of  the  A.B.,  the  S.B.,  the  A.M.,  and  the  M.D. 
degrees,  and  a  finishing  course  in  Europe,  together  with  a  second 
course  in  Europe  five  years  later,  which  he  seems  to  have  de- 
voted wholly  to  ophthalmology  under  the  direction  of  Donders 
and  Snellen,  he  located  in  St.  Louis  in  1866,  and  entered  upon 
the  practice  of  otology  and  ophthalmology,  ophthalmology  being 
the  specialty  of  his  choice,  probably  because  it  offered  a  wider 
and  a  more  intricate  field  for  investigation,  and  because  of  the 
many  new  lines  of  research  in  it  that  were  being  pursued  at  that 
time. 

Anatomically  the  eye  was  well  understood,  its  surgical  realm 
had  been  very  thoroughly  explored,  and  regarding  its  physiology 
there  was  much  that  was  comprehended;  but  in  1851,  fifteen 
years  previous  to  the  second  European  trip,  Nature  had  con- 
ferred on  one  of  her  most  gifted  sons  the  privilege  of  inventing 
the  ophthalmoscope,  which  gave  to  ophthalmic  science  a  wholly 
new  method  of  diagnosticating  a  number  of  heretofore  obscure 
ailments. 

The  medical  world  had  not  yet  recovered  from  its  astonish- 
ment at  its  ability  to  obtain  a  perfect  view  of  a  living  nerve  in 


12  Dr.  John  Green. 

the  human  body,  and  living  and  functioning  bloodvessels,  and  it 
was  still  bewildered  with  the  fact  that  in  this  same  field  also 
could  be  observed  pathological  changes  which  were  unquestion- 
ably similar  to  those  that  took  place  elsewhere  in  the  tissues  of 
the  living  organism.  In  addition  to  this  the  new  instrument 
possessed  the  further  advantage  of  being  an  aid  in  determining 
the  refraction  of  the  eye.  For  twenty  years  or  more  the  great 
ophthalmologists  of  this  period  were  vying  with  one  another 
in  the  invention  of  ophthalmoscopes.  Donders  had  a  clip  behind 
the  mirror  for  holding  the  trial  case  lenses.  Ruete,  Jaeger, 
Liebreich,  de  Wecker,  Carter  and  others,  each  had  an  invention 
of  his  own;  while  among  the  inventors  in  this  country  were 
Knapp,  Noyes,  Loring  and  others,  including  Dr.  Green,  who 
constructed  one  for  himself,  which  he  used  for  many  years,  but 
I  think  it  was  never  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  instrument  maker. 
The  positive  history  of  spectacles  dates  to  early  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  they  were  probably  employed  previous  to 
this.  Much  was  known  of  refraction  and  much  regarding  ac- 
commodation, and  something  of  astigmatism,  beginning  with 
Thos.  Young  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  but  it 
was  reserved  for  Donders  to  thoroughly  clear  up  the  whole 
subject  of  refraction  in  his  monumental  work  "On  the  Anomalies 
of  Accommodation  and  Refraction  of  the  Eye,"  published  in 
1864.  Here  again  was  a  revelation  to  the  medical  world  of  many 
of  the  heretofore  unexplained  causes  of  headaches  and  inability 
to  use  the  eyes,  and  an  elucidation  of  the  absorbing  and  puzzling 
subject  of  strabismus.  The  expounding  of  this  whole  subject 
was  for  Donders,  but  the  means  for  its  practical  application  was 
offered  by  his  illustrious  contemporary  and  associate,  Snellen,  in 
the  form  of  test-types  and  a  formula  by  which  the  visual  power 
could  be  expressed  in  numerical  terms.  The  practical  test  for 
astigmatism  had  as  yet  not  been  satisfactorily  devised,  and  it 
was  one  of  the  subjects  of  research  at  the  time  that  Dr.  Green 
had  the  honor  of  being  a  pupil  under  these  two  high  priests  in 
ophthalmology.  To  him  belongs  the  credit  of  perfecting  this 
test  in  the  form  of  several  charts,  and  so  thoroughly  perfecting 
it  that,  like  Snellen's  letter  tests  and  formula,  no  one  has  been 
able  to  produce  anything  better.  To  the  correction  of  astigma- 
tism these  charts  bear  the  same  relation  that  test  letters  bear  to 
the  correction  of  myopia  or  hypermetropia.  They  apply  to  every 
variety  of  astigmatism,  and  reveal  also  in  its  correction  the  subtle 
role  played  by  the  accommodation. 


Memorial.  13 

Having  accustomed  himself  to  clearness  and  accuracy  in  his 
modes  of  thinking,  the  unequal  intervals  that  obtained  in  the 
notation  of  test  letters  were  an  annoyance,  and  prompted  him  to 
seek  a  ratio  by  which  such  letters  would  be  uniformly  graded  in 
size,  with  a  uniform  relative  interval  in  their  distance  one  from 
the  other.  He  proposed  two  geometrical  ratios,  both  of  which 
have  been  adopted  by  the  American  Ophthalmological  Society 
and  one  by  the  leading  ophthalmic  society  in  France.  In  the 
construction  of  test  letters  he  also  suggested  that  only  those 
square  and  round  letters  should  be  used,  the  limbs  of  which 
would  come  within  the  square  of  the  five  minute  test  object  angle 
and  be  practically  of  uniform  size.  He  further  devised  these 
letters  in  two  forms,  the  Gothic  or  Antique  and  the  block  letter. 
In  both  forms  the  letters  are  more  symmetrical  and  better  pro- 
portioned than  most  of  the  test  types  employed,  those  of  Snellen 
not  excepted.  He  also  was  the  first  to  suggest  and  to  put  into 
practice  the  arrangement  of  single  letters  of  varying  sizes  in 
linear  series,  in  order  to  "shorten  the  time  of  the  initial  test"  and 
"minimize  fatigue  to  the  patient". 

Donders'  work  on  Refraction  and  Accommodation  clearly 
demonstrated  the  causes  of  strabismus  and  raised  the  question 
of  accommodative  strain  in  the  action  of  the  muscles.  This  led 
to  exercises  with  the  stereoscope  for  the  detection  of  disturbances 
in  binocular  vision  and  for  its  restitution.  For  this  purpose  Dr. 
Green  devised  a  number  of  the  best  charts  extant. 

The  same  trait  of  accuracy  that  made  the  test  letter  interval 
irritating  to  him,  caused  him  to  be  irritated  also  by  the  gross 
manner  in  which  test  lenses  in  trial  cases  were  constructed  for 
the  use  of  ophthalmologists,  because  of  the  centers  of  the  lenses 
being  too  distant  from  one  another,  and  resulted  in  his  suggest- 
ing a  far  more  satisfactory  method  of  approximating  the  lenses, 
in  the  trial  frame  by  means  of  a  thin  flange  on  the  rim  of  the 
trial  lenses,  and  also  a  trial  frame  containing  a  groove  that  would 
hold  two  lenses  face  to  face  in  the  single  groove.  With  the 
recommendation  of  his  friend,  Jackson,  that  plano-convex  and 
plano-concave  lenses  for  trial  cases  should  supplant  the  ordinary 
.  double  convex  and  double  concave  forms  in  general  use,  he 
adopted  the  suggestion  for  his  thin  flanged  rim  and  had  several 
trial  cases  constructed  for  his  own  use.  Trial  cases  with  lenses 
mounted  in  this  manner  are  now  regularly  on  the  market,  and 
are  far  superior  to  those  with  the  old  mountings. 

In  all  of  this  work  involving  optical  problems,  and  in  many 


14  Dr.  John  Green. 

other  articles,  his  vast  knowledge  of  optics  is  apparent.  In  this 
branch  of  ophthalmology  he  was  unquestionably  without  a  peer 
among  the  ophthalmologists  in  this  country. 

Having  served  in  his  younger  days  as  an  apothecary  with  his 
father,  he  became  an  adept  in  chemistry,  as  was  well  recognized 
by  the  druggists  and  chemists  of  his  acquaintance.  By  reason 
of  the  knowledge  thus  acquired,  the  ophthalmic  pharmacopoeia 
has  been  enriched  by  a  permanent  solution  of  atropin  in  castor 
oil,  and  with  the  introduction  of  cocain  this  drug  was  added  to 
the  solution.  In  iritis  and  in  certain  forms  of  corneal  ulceration 
this  is  a  most  valuable  remedy,  due  to  the  oil  remaining  in  the 
conjunctival  sac,  thus  preventing  the  atropin  from  becoming  an 
irritant  to  the  pharynx,  as  often  happens  with  the  aqueous  solu- 
tion. 

The  influence  of  his  training  under  Mr.  Bowman,  the  inventor 
of  lacrimal  probes,  and  the  first  demonstrator  of  the  anterior 
limiting  membrane  of  the  cornea,  which  bears  his  name,  is 
shown  by  the  interest  taken  in  the  work  of  the  great  teacher. 
When  important  decisions  were  to  be  made  as  to  the  management 
of  certain  cases,  Dr.  Green  would  often  refer  to  what  would 
have  been  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Bowman  under  similar  circum- 
stances. In  the  management  of  lacrimal  duct  disorders,  he  ad- 
hered very  closely  to  the  practice  of  Mr.  Bowman,  deviating 
from  it  only  in  exceptional  cases  by  employing  the  soft  lead  styles 
of  his  own  invention,  through  which  he  became  a  credit  to  his 
famous  master. 

In  the  manipulation  of  the  eyelids  and  in  the  fixing  or  handling 
of  the  globe,  no  touch  was  more  delicate  and  no  hand  more 
steady  than  his.  In  operating,  every  movement  was  guided  by 
the  precision  of  exact  knowledge.  Ophthalmic  surgery  was  am- 
plified by  the  operation  which  he  devised  for  entropion  of  the 
upper  lid,  which  was  suggested  to  him  by  the  abhorrent  cases  of 
lagophthalmos  that  obtained  throughout  this  region  at  that  time 
from  the  performance  of  operations  which  demanded  loss  of  the 
lid  tissues.  In  comparison  with  these  it  was  a  long  stride  toward 
a  perfect  procedure.  In  fact,  in  a  majority  of  the  cases  in  the 
hands  of  skillful  operators,  it  was  a  perfect  procedure,  and  when 
resulting  in  partial  failure  there  was  always  the  possibility  of  its 
repetition  without  injury.  Many  years  later,  while  pursuing  his 
historical  studies,  he  became  persuaded  that  authority  existed 
which  pointed  to  the  same  procedure  as  being  the  property  of 
the  ancients,  and  in  a  paper  discussing  the  subject  he  relinquished 


Memorial.  15 

his  claim  to  it.  As  no  ancient  diagrams  are  extant  to  demonstrate 
the  ancient  method  of  operating,  and  as  it  is  difficult  to  be  wholly 
guided  by  the  interpretation  of  a  term  employed  so  long  ago  as  to 
the  exact  mode  of  procedure,  and  as  he  was  the  unquestioned 
inventor  so  far  as  our  own  epoch  is  concerned,  with  every  detail 
clearly  set  forth,  it  is  but  just  to  him  that  it  be  called  after  his 
name,  and  as  such  it  is  recognized  in  all  of  our  best  unbiased 
American  text  books  and  systems  of  ophthalmology.  It  is  the 
safest  and  most  humane  operation  for  dealing  with  entropion, 
and  for  its  execution  there  is  no  better  instrument  than  the 
scalpel  originated  and  employed  by  him. 

The  honor  and  the  admiration  which  he  deferentially  accorded 
to  his  eminent  teachers  was  reciprocated  by  them  in  the  kindli- 
ness with  which  his  students  were  received  by  them  when  visit- 
ing Europe  for  a  finishing  course.  Both  Snellen  and  Donders 
were  very  fond  of  him,  as  were  also  Javal  and  de  Wecker,  and 
the  immortal  Helmholtz  did  him  the  honor  to  especially  seek 
him  out  in  St.  Louis  when  touring  the  United  States  twenty 
years  ago. 

His  kindness  to  the  younger  men  of  his  acquaintance  is  best 
voiced  in  a  recent  letter  to  me  from  Dr.  Carl  Roller,  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  anaesthetic  properties  of  cocain  for  the  eye,  when 
he  writes,  "This  is  not  exactly  an  occasion  for  condolence.  Dr. 
Green  died  after  a  life  rich  of  endeavor  and  fulfillment,  honored 
and  appreciated  by  those  best  able  to  judge.  For  my  part  I  wish 
to  give  expression  to  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  owe  to  Dr. 
Green  for  his  kindness  towards  me,  and  for  the  powerful  as- 
sistance he  gave  me  for  establishing  myself  on  these  shores.  I 
shall  always  keep  that  in  mind,  and  keep  of  his  strong  personal- 
ity a  vivid  and  grateful  memory." 

For  the  honorable,  upright  practice  of  medicine  he  was  ever 
the  staunchest  advocate,  and  for  the  best  possible  attainments 
in  medicine.  It  was  this  that  always  kept  him  in  the  lead,  in  the 
advanced  medical  educational  interests  in  St.  Louis.  He  is 
spoken  of  as  the  pioneer  oculist  west  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was 
this  devotion  to  the  highest  and  noblest  in  medicine,  and  his 
contributions  to  ophthalmology,  that  earned  for  him  this  hon- 
orable title.  Now  that  he  is  no  longer  with  us,  we  not  only  rec- 
ognize him  as  a  pioneer,  but  we  hold  him  in  fondest  memory 
as  one  of  the  great  oracles  in  ophthalmology. 

Dr.  Green  was  ever  faithful  to  the  American  Otological  and 
the  American  Ophthalmological  Societies,  and  to  the  men  that 
composed  them,  considering  that  they  honestly  encouraged  the 


16  Br.  John  Green. 

highest  order  of  research  and  progress.  For  many  years  he  was 
on  the  committee  of  membership  of  the  American  Ophthalmo- 
logical  Society.  One  of  his  assistants  relates  that  at  a  clinic  in 
Europe  he  met  an  ophthalmic  practitioner  from  another  Ameri- 
can city,  who,  in  speaking  of  Dr.  Green,  remarked,  "While  he 
was  on  the  membership  committee  of  the  Ophthalmological  So- 
ciety I  was  always  left  out,  but  when  he  got  out  I  got  in."  It 
is  an  evidence  of  the  care  exercised  in  the  Society's  selections 
during  the  term  of  Dr.  Green's  service.  This  care  in  the  selec- 
tion of  his  ophthalmic  and  medical  companions  was  often  the 
cause  of  implacable  enmity  on  the  part  of  those  who  deemed 
themselves  worthy  of  recognition.  On  his  part,  however,  it  was 
always  a  defensive  and  not  an  offensive  manoeuvre  by  which  he 
kept  them  aloof,  and  he  never  permitted  their  importunity  to  dis- 
turb the  high  ideals  that  he  had  set  as  the  standard  for  his  as- 
sociations. 

In  the  development  of  the  Medical  Department  of  Washington 
University  he  hoped  to  see  his  dreams  of  highest  efficiency  in 
every  department  realized,  and  particularly  along  the  lines  of 
teaching  and  investigation.  To  this  end,  out  of  his  own  pocket, 
he  purchased  in  1888  the  first  dozen  microscopes  that  were  used 
in  the  institution,  in  order  that  the  students  might  acquire  a  more 
definite  idea  of  histology  and  pathology  than  could  possibly  be 
obtained  by  lectures  and  blackboard  demonstrations,  the  fashion 
of  the  period.  For  several  years  the  only  immersion  lens  in  the 
institution  for  the  study  of  bacteriology  was  loaned  from  his 
office. 

The  present  ophthalmic  clinic  at  the  O'Fallon  Dispensary  was 
founded  under  his  supervision  in  1882,  in  the  old  dispensary 
building  at  7th  Street  and  Clark  Avenue.  Previous  to  this  he 
had  conducted  a  clinic  for  many  years  at  St.  Luke's  Hospital. 
In  1894,  following  the  removal  of  the  college  to  18th  and  Locust 
Streets,  by  reason  of  the  proximity  of  the  two  clinics  and  be- 
cause of  the  desire  of  St.  Luke's  to  abandon  its  out-clinic  de- 
partment for  lack  of  room,  the  two  clinics  were  combined  at  the 
present  location,  and  were  practically  under  his  care  until  his 
death. 

He  also  supervised  the  present  plan  of  instruction  in  ophthal- 
mology in  the  University  which,  in  practical  teaching,  has  no 
superior  anywhere  in  this  branch  of  medicine.  Our  only  lack 
has  been  a  properly  equipped  hospital  and  laboratories  for  this 
purpose,  which  the  wealth  of  St.  Louis  has  not  yet  seen  fit  to 
furnish  us,  probably  because  of  our  leader's  inability  to  beg  for 


Memorial.  17 

charity,  due  doubtless  to  his  feeling  that  it  would  be  said  of  him 
that  the  purpose  of  such  a  hospital  would  be  to  aggrandize  him- 
self financially.  When  we  first  opened  the  clinic  at  the  old 
Clark  Avenue  building  and  we  were  having  a  good  attendance, 
I  intimated  to  him  that  we  were  in  need  of  an  ophthalmic  hos- 
pital, and  that  it  probably  could  be  obtained  if  he  would  take 
the  lead  in  suggesting  it.  His  answer  was,  "That  would  be 
begging." 

For  its  charity  and  kindness  to  him  in  looking  after  and  caring 
for  the  poor  that  he  placed  in  its  charge,  he  was  ever  most  grate- 
ful to  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  and  to  its  directorate,  so  expressing 
himself  at  one  of  the  last  staff  meetings  that  he  attended. 

Frequently  he  was  accredited  with  being  austere,  but  this  aus- 
terity was  wholly  exterior  and  was  only  exercised  toward  the 
offensive,  or  to  forcibly  clinch  a  point.  Those  who  were  nearest 
him  know  that  by  nature  he  was  of  such  tender  heart  that  it 
would  have  hurt  him  to  kill  even  a  noxious  insect.  The  gentle 
element  in  his  noble  character  was  impressively  revealed  in  the 
care  and  kindness  exercised  by  him  toward  afflicted  children. 
With  the  austerity  was  combined  an  exhaustless  fund  of  keen 
wit  and  humor,  which  he  could  exercise  in  a  convincing  manner 
without  anger,  irony  or  sarcasm  in  exposing  the  frailties  of  hu- 
manity, often  to  the  merriment  of  the  waiting  audience  that 
ordinarily  crowded  his  consulting  rooms.  Although  often  ap- 
parently harsh  in  his  clear,  sagacious  method  of  searching  for 
the  truth  in  his  professional  dealing  with  those  who  sought  his 
advice,  he  was  a  far  better  friend  and  protector  to  those  who 
trusted  him  in  the  management  of  their  troubles  than  was  fre- 
quently recognized  by  them,  and  to  the  poor,  and  to  those  most 
in  need  of  help,  he  was  always  a  friend  without  thought  of 
recompense.  His  contribution  to  this  class  as  a  helper  in  the 
community  reckoned  in  time,  service  and  skill,  was  far  in  excess 
of  the  regulation  biblical  tithe,  and  a  typical  expression  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  was  ceaselessly  exercising  his  great  powers 
for  the  benefit  of  mankind. 

JOHN  GREEN. 

AN  ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  TRELEASE,  LL.D. 

Bacon  says :  "Reading  maketh  a  full  man,  .  .  .  writing,  an 
exact  man."  Doctor  Green  was  a  man  of  large  reading  and  a 
man  who  wrote  much. 

I  met  him  first  in  the  fall  of  1885.    I  remember  very  distinctly 


18  Br.  John  Green. 

the  smile  with  which  anything  that  was  said  to  him  was  received 
as  understood  even  before  the  words  were  completed,  and 
through  a  quarter-century  saw  that  smile  change  to  the  familiar 
less  labile  though  never  less  responsive  expression  of  later  years. 
I  remember  his  keen  understanding  of  many  things — art,  music, 
the  drama — which  were  entirely  outside  his  own  profession  and 
its  foundations  even.  I  remember  the  enthusiasm  with  which  I 
found  he  had  been  interested  in  the  study  that  most  occupied 
me,  when  he  had  worked  under  the  great  man  Asa  Gray,  whom 
I  too  knew  as  master  and  friend.  From  the  time  when  Doctor 
Green  was  about  fifty  until  he  left  us  it  was  my  privilege  to 
know  him  closely;  during  that  time  I  was  impressed  constantly 
and  increasingly  with  wonder  at  his  breadth  of  interest  and  at 
the  facility  of  understanding  and  expression  that  life  had  brought 
to  him,  showing  an  amount  of  reading,  of  the  best,  that  few  of 
us  have  the  time  to  compass  and  that  only  one  in  a  large  number 
can  approach,  even,  in  assimilation. 

Xo  one  who  knew  Doctor  Green  at  his  own  table  or  elsewhere 
in  conversation  can  have  failed  to  catch  his  quick  repartee,  and 
thorough  understanding  of  a  shade  of  meaning  that  he  meant  to 
convey  or  that  came  to  his  ear.  No  one  that  ever  heard  him 
speak  when  wanting  to  carry  a  message  of  force  could  possibly 
have  failed  to  note  an  exact  use  of  words,  carrying  conviction  to 
him  who  could  understand.  One  of  the  great  pleasures  of  his 
last  year  was  a  testimonial  from  the  Harvard  Club  of  St.  Louis, 
in  the  form  of  a  loving  cup,  given  him  as  Honorary  President  of 
that  club  in  recognition  of  long  service  as  its  active  President, 
in  which  he  demonstrated  among  many  other  traits  of  versatility 
an  ability  to  outdo  the  classics  that  appealed  to  men  in  any  pro- 
fession. 

Doctor  Green  was  a  critic — a  friendly  critic  more  commonly 
than  a  hostile  critic.  He  was  a  helpful  critic  for  his  friends  in 
those  little  shades  of  meaning  that  make  all  the  difference  in  the 
world  between  the  right  and  the  near  right  carrying  of  an  idea 
by  words ;  he  was  a  man  to  whom  a  punctuation  mark  was  some- 
times as  important  as  a  sentence. 

Dr.  Green,  as  Doctor  Engler  has  said,  even  when  his  word  was 
final  in  mid-life  or  later,  began  at  the  very  foundation  of  things 
he  was  ready  to  undertake.  One  who  had  opportunity  to  watch 
his  methods  in  investigation, — and  to  him  the  practice  of  his 
profession  was  always  investigation, — could  see  everywhere  the 
closeness  of  his  power  as  an  observer,  the  skill  with  which  ex- 


Memorial.  19 

periment  was  fitted  to  meet  question,  and  the  understanding  with 
which  conclusions  were  deduced  from  observation  and  experi- 
ment. No  wonder  that  when  he  wrote  he  wrote  as  an  exact 
man;  and,  seeking  counsel  as  readily  as  he  gave  it,  no  wonder 
that  what  he  put  in  print  is  destined  to  stand  as  solid  ground  for 
the  work  of  others. 

Personally,  I  like  still  more  to  think  of  Doctor  Green  in  a 
different  light  from  this.  It  was  my  privilege,  as  I  have  said, 
to  know  him  from  his  prime  to  the  time  when  without  any  im- 
pairment of  his  faculties  his  work  ended.  I  knew  him  as  a 
friendly  counsellor  to  whom  one  could  turn  at  any  time  on  any 
subject,  sure  of  finding  understanding  aid  in  questions  of  policy, 
of  broad  problem,  of  detail.  I  went  to  him  for  such  counsel 
from  the  time  when  with  him  the  fire  of  life  was  flaming,  to  the 
time  when  it  had  settled  to  the  smouldering  glow  which  perhaps 
was  more  effective  and  certainly  less  wasteful,  and  through  that 
period  I  never  knew  him  to  be  wanting  in  any  of  those  traits  that 
make  a  friend  and  counsellor  invaluable  to  one  to  whom  they 
are  accessible. 

One  thing  deserves  mention  above  other  things :  that  devotion 
to  service  which  has  been  spoken  of  by  Doctor  Fischel.  We 
who  really  knew  Doctor  Green  as  he  spent  his  life  for  others 
could  not  fail  to  note  in  him  a  marked  devotion  to  duty  and  help- 
fulness, a  self-sacrifice  that  goes  further  than  any  other  means 
of  carrying  altruism  to  fruition,  and  a  rare  power  of  self-efface- 
ment in  his  dearest  plans.  If  the  Academy  of  Science  of  St. 
Louis  is  ever  understood  to  its  heart  it  will  be  found  that  almost 
from  its  earliest  day  during  more  than'  half-a-century  Doctor 
Green  was  one  of  the  few  always  to  be  counted  on  for  interest 
and  assistance  in  its  every  activity.  As  one  of  the  men  entrusted 
with  establishing  a  policy  which  should  give  to  the  Missouri 
Botanical  Garden  the  international  reputation  which  its  founder 
desired  for  it,  Doctor  Green,  fully  comprehending  Henry 
Shaw's  purposes,  contributed  in  no  small  way  through  many 
years  to  a  realization  of  the  expectation  of  the  great  benefactor 
of  your  city — and  the  world  recognizes  that  which  Doctor  Green 
labored  to  bring  about.  The  possibilities  that  the  community 
enjoys  to-day  in  art,  music,  and  the  drama  have  rested  firmly  in 
their  development  at  more  than  one  point  on  the  unobtrusive 
help  of  this  man  whom  we  mourn  and  in  whose  memory  we 
meet. 

Only  last  year  Richard  Miller  expressed  the  wish  that  Doctor 


20  Br.  John  Green. 

Green  could  give  him  a  sitting.  I  hope  it  is  not  yet  too  late  for 
you  gentlemen,  interested  in  the  medical  school  and  in  all  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  progress  of  this  community,  to  enable 
Miller,  who  has  given  to  you  a  speaking  likeness  of  Dr.  Green's 
life-long  intimate,  Baumgarten,  to  take  from  the  excellent 
photographs  that  you  have  the  traits  which  with  his  present 
memory  of  the  man  will  enable  him  to  put  on  canvas  a  real  por- 
trait that  you  can  place  beside  those  of  Baumgarten,  Hodgen 
and  Mudd — the  men  who  have  made  possible  your  now  great 
medical  school — so  that  the  kindly  soul  of  the  man  shall  be  evi- 
dent to  the  students  who,  generations  from  now,  may  then  see 
in  his  face  what  kind  of  man  it  was  who  stood  with  other  men 
of  his  kind  in  self-sacrificing  devotion,  capable  even  of  with- 
drawing his  own  personality,  his  own  presence,  that  his  dream 
might  appear  to  be  the  plan  of  another  if  so  it  might  be  surer 
of  realization. 

At  the  close  of  the  formal  addresses  the  presiding  officer  dis- 
missed the  audience  as  follows : 

If  it  be  a  worthy  ambition  for  a  man  so  to  live  and  work  as 
to  leave  to  posterity  a  permanent  and  fragrant  memory,  then  the 
sincere  words  of  the  speakers  of  the  evening — these  colleagues 
and  friends — are  evidence  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Green  realized  a 
worthy  ambition,  for  without  doubt  he  has  left  to  posterity  a 
permanent  and  fragrant  memory. 


Bibliography.  21 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  WRITINGS  OF 
JOHN  GREEN,  M.D. 

City  Hospitals. — Boston,  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,   1861. 

Case  of  fracture  of  the  thigh  treated  by  immovable  apparatus  of  gypsum. 

—Boston  M.  &  S.  Journal,  1863-4,  lxix. 
On  amputation   of  the  thigh. — 34  p.     Boston   M.  &   S.   Journal,    1863-4. 
lxix. 

Mechanical  ulcer  of  the  stump. — Boston  M.  &  S.  Journal,   1863-4,   lxix. 

Toetslynen  tot  bepaling  van  astigmatism. — Versl.  Nederl.  Gasth.  v.  Ooogl., 
No.  7,  s.  155.    Nedrl.  Arch.  v.  Gen.  en  Naturk.     II 

On  a  new  system  for  the  detection  and  measurement  of  astigmatism, 
with  an  analysis  of  sixty-four  cases  of  refractive  anomalies  ob- 
served by  the  aid  of  the  method. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y.  4th 
and  5th  meeting,   1867-8.     N.  Y.,   1869. 

On  the  modern  treatment  of  lacrimal  obstruction  by  dilatation  of  the 
natural  passages. — 16  p.    St.  Louis  M.  &  S.  Journal,  1868,  n.s.  vi. 

On  the  use  of  styles  of  lead  in  the  treatment  of  disease  of  the  lacrimal 
sac. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y.  4th  and  5th  meetings,  1867-8. 
N.  Y.,  1869. 

Remarks  on  the  use  of  leaden  styles  in  the  treatment  of  lacrimal  ob- 
structions with  description  of  a  new  plan  for  facilitating  their  in- 
troduction.— Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y-  6th  meeting,  1869.  N.  Y., 
1869. 

On  a  series  of  test-letters  for  determining  the  acuteness  of  vision. — 
Trans,  of  the  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y.  4th  and  5th  meetings,  1867-8. 
N.   Y,   1869. 

On  a  color  test  for  astigmatism. — Trans,  of  the  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y. 
4th  and  5th  meetings,  1867-8.    N.  Y.,  1869. 

An  optical  demonstration  of  the  characteristic  phenomena  of  astigmatic 
vision. — Trans,  of  the  Medical  Assn.  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  St. 
Louis,  1870. 

On  the  treatment  of  lacrimal  obstruction  by  dilatation  of  the  natural 
passages. — Ibid. 

Case  of  aspergillus  in  the  external  auditory  meatus. — Trans,  of  the  Amer. 
Otological  Soc'y.     3rd  meeting,  1870.     N.  Y.,  1870. 

Remarks  on  cataract  extraction ;  suggestions  for  securing  greater  pre- 
cision in  reporting  operations  and  results ;  form  of  corneal  section. — 
Trans,  of  the  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y.    9th  meeting,  1873.    N.  Y.,  1873. 

On  a  color-test  for  ametropia,  based  upon  the  chromatic  aberration  of 
the  eye. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y.  10th  meeting,  1874.  N.  Y., 
1874. 

Iridotomy  by  Von  Wecker's  method. — Trans,  of  the  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y. 
11th  meeting,  N.  Y.,  1876.     p.  352. 

Notes  on  the  examination  of  the  eyes  of  a  criminal  executed  by  hanging. 
— Ibid.,  p.  354. 

Improvements   in   instruments   and   appliances    for   diagnosis. — Ibid.,   467. 

Castor  oil  as  a  menstruum  for  dissolving  atropia  for  application  to  the 
eye. — Ibid.,  p.  355. 

Remarks  on  association  of  myopia  and  astigmatism. — Ibid.,  p.   318. 


22  Dr.  John  Green. 

Test-diagrams  for  the  detection  and  measurement  of  astigmatism.— 
Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y.    N.  Y.,  1878.    ii,  pt.  4.  467-473. 

Stereoscopic  diagrams  for  testing  binocular  vision. — Ibid.,  474. 

A  new  modification  of  Loring's  ophthalmoscope. — Ibid.,  476-482. 

Improved  series  and  arrangements  of  the  glasses  of  the  trial  case  for 
measuring    refraction. — Ibid.,   483-488. 

A  practical  treatise  on  diseases  of  the  eye,  by  Robert  Brudenell  Carter- 
ed.,  with  additions  and  test-types  by  John  Green,  M.D. — Phil.,  Lea., 
1876. 

Trichiasis  and  distichiasis. — St.  Louis  Courier  of  Medicine,  1879.  i,  p. 
339-343;  p.  593-596.  (Two  articles.) 

Cross-eye ;  its  origin,  prevention  and  treatment. — St.  Louis  M.  &  S.  Jour- 
nal, 1880,  xxxix,  157-163. 

A  case  of  detached  retina  treated  by  hypodermic  injections  of  muriate 
of  pilocarpin. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y-  16th  meeting,  1880. 
N.  Y.,  1880. 

Exhibition  of  a  combination  set  of  trial  glasses,  and  a  new  trial  frame. — 
Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y,  16th  meeting,  1880.    N.  Y.,  1880. 

An  improvement  in  concave  spectacle  lenses  of  high  power. — Ibid. 

An  acute  glaucomatous  invasion,  following  closely  upon  a  single  applica- 
tion of  a  very  weak  preparation  of  duboisia. — Ibid. 

A  modified  operation   for  discission  in  soft  cataract. — Ibid. 

Case  of  nucleus  like  bodies  in  the  lenses  of  a  child  escaping  after  dis- 
cission.— Ibid. 

An  operation  for  entropion. — Ibid. 

On  some  therapeutical  applications  of  pilocarpin. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth. 
Soc'y,  N.  Y.,  1881.    iii,  302-305. 

An  operation  for  closed  pupil  with  anterior  synechia,  using  the  pince- 
ciseaux  of  Wecker.  Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y.  N.  Y.,  1881.  iii, 
214. 

Das  Schielen. — Read  before:  Verein  Deutscher  Aerzte,  St.  Louis,  Sept. 
28,  1882. 

A  case  of  ruptured  zonula;  lens  continuing  transparent  after  three  years; 
mydriasis  and  loss  of  accommodation ;  increase  of  refraction  under 
influence  of  myotics. — Amer.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis,  1884.    i,  43-47. 

An  operation  for  the  removal  of  the  eyeball,  together  with  the  entire 
conjunctival  sac  and  lid  margins. — Amer.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis, 
1884.    i,  65-68. 

Notes  on  some  of  the  physiological  effects  and  practical  applications  of 
cocaine  hydrochlorate. — Amer.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis,  1884.  i. 
231-7. 

On  accommodation  and  refraction. — Reference  Handbook  of  the  Medical 

Sciences,  ed.  by  Albert  H.  Buck.     N.  Y.,  Wood,  1885-93.     i,  50. 
On  asthenopia. — Ibid.,  i,  391. 
On  astigmatism. — Ibid.,  i,  400. 
On  diplopia. — Ibid.,  ii,  475. 
On  hemeralopia  and  nyctalopia. — Ibid.,  iii,  605. 
On  hypermetropia. — Ibid.,  iii,  775. 
On  ophthalmoscope,  ophthalmoscopy. — Ibid.,  v,  298. 
On  optometry. — Ibid.,  v,  349. 
On  presbyopia. — Ibid.,  vi,  22. 


Bibliography.  23 

On  spectacles. — Ibid.,  vi,  502. 

Die  operation  des  Entropium. — Historische  Studie.     St.  Louis,   1886. 

On  the  operative  treatment  of  entropium. — Amer.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St. 
Louis,  1884.    i,  193-200. 

On  operation  for  the  partial  or  total  removal  of  the  eyeball. — Amer. 
Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis,  1885.     ii,  51-61. 

On  spectacle  lenses  of  a  symmetrical  curvature. — Amer.  Jour.  Ophth., 
St.  Louis,  1886.    Hi,  53-59. 

On  the  operative  treatment  of  entropium. — Amer.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis, 
1886.    iii,  363-388. 

On  a  transient  myopia  occurring  in  connection  with  iritis. — Trans. 
Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y,  Boston,  1887.     iv,  599. 

Test-letters  for  measuring  the  acuteness  of  vision,  based  upon  the  test- 
letters  of  Professor  H.  Snellen,  and  the  test-letters  in  geometrical 
progression  of  Dr.  John  Green.  By  John  Green  and  A.  E.  Ewing. — 
St.  Louis,  1886. 

On  certain  stereoscopical  illusions  evoked  by  prismatic  and  cylindrical 
spectacle-glasses. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y,  Hartford,  1889.  449- 
456. 

Notes  on  21  cases  of  cataract  occurring  in  a  single  family. — Trans.  Amer. 
Ophth.  Soc'y,  Hartford,  1890.    v,  pt.  iii,  724-727. 

An  elementary  discussion  on  some  cases  of  centrical  refraction  through 
tipped  spectacle  lenses. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Sec'y,  Hartford,  1890. 
v,  pt.  Ill,  690-717. 

Note  on  the  variations  in  the  power  and  in  the  astigmatism  of  thin 
spherical,  toric  and  cylindrical  lenses  in  principal  cases  of  oblique 
centrical  refraction. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y,  1895.  Hartford, 
1896.    vii,  329-341. 

and  A.  E.  Ewing.  Hypopyon  keratitis ;  break  in  Descemet's  mem- 
brane preceding  corneal  perforation. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y, 
1896.     Hartford,  1897.    vii,  716-23,  3  pi. 

In  memoriam,  Dr.  Henry  Hillard  Williams  (1821-1895).— Trans.  Amer. 
Ophth.  Soc'y,  1896.    Hartford,  1897.    vii,  479-496.    port. 

and  A.  E.  Ewing.     Hypopyon  keratitis ;  break  in  Descemet's  mem- 
brane preceding  corneal  perforation;  passage  of  hydrogen  peroxide 
and  fluorescein  through  the  corneal  ulcer  into  the  anterior  chamber. 
—Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y,  Hartford,  1897-8.    viii,  374-385.     3  pi. 
-and  A.  E.  Ewing.     A  case  of  melano-sarcoma  of  the  conjunctiva 


and  cornea  of  long  duration. — Trans.  Amer.  Ophth.  Soc'y,  Hartford, 

1898.    viii,  468-471.    2  pi. 
Address    at  the   50th   anniversary   of  the   founding   of   the   Academy   of 

Science. — Trans,  of  the  Acad,  of  Science,    v,  16,  p.  xlv,  1906. 
Biography  of  the  older  Agassiz,   Jean  Louis  Rodolphe  Agassiz. — Trans. 

of  the  Acad,  of  Science,    v.  17,  p.  xxxiii,  1907. 
Biography  of  Dr.  Gustav  Baumgarten. — Trans,  of  the  Acad,  of  Science. 

v.  19,  p.  xli,  1910. 
Periscopic  spectacles. — Am.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis,  1908.     xxv,  321-324. 
Coquille  protective  spectacles. — Am.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis,  1909.     xxvi, 

321-327  p.  1  pi. 
Coquille  protective   spectacles.     Relation   of  the  thickness   of  a   coquille 

of  zero  power  to  the  principal  focal  lengths  and  to  the  power  of  its 

surfaces. — Am.  Jour.  Ophth.,  St.  Louis,  1910.     xxvii,  321-3. 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing,  as 
provided  by  the  rules  of  the  Library  or  by  special  arrange- 
ment with  the  Librarian  in  charge. 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

C2a(l14l)M100 

R154.G823  W2? 


Washington  university,  St.  Louis 

£>Cnnn  1  «P  — — ii  — * —  * 


